Thriller Thursdays: Notorious - A masterpiece from the maestro

In our weekly column, Thriller Thursdays, we recommend specially-curated thrillers that’ll send a familiar chill down your spine.

Notorious was made in 1946, nearly 76 years ago, and Ingrid Bergman passed away in 1982, over 40 years back. But the legacy of this film still haunts us with its infinite grace and mystery. So come into this film for the Hitchcockian flourish of suspense, and stay back for the incandescence of its stars and a story that is essentially a love story masquerading as an espionage thriller. 

Ingrid Bergman is Alicia Huberman, a woman whose father has been convicted for treason as a Nazi spy. She is recruited by Cary Grant's government agent T. R. Devlin, to spy on an organization rife with German sympathizers based out of Brazil. She agrees, albeit reluctantly, and they both travel to Rio de Janeiro. And whilst awaiting directives about her mission, she falls in love. For Alicia, it is like a flash of truth after what she had gone through with her father's treason and her other short-term relationships. But for Devlin, there was the surety of feeling but the uncertainty of integrity, given Alicia’s promiscuous background.  

When the details about Alicia's mission finally arrive, she is instructed to get close to Alex Sebastian (Claude Rains), who is a prominent member of the organisation they are trying to infiltrate. Alicia’s task is made easier as Alex was infatuated with Alicia in the past. Devlin is devastated and tries to convince his superiors that Alicia was not the right woman for the job, but fails. He puts on a poker face and gives Alicia instructions for her job. Seeing the lack of empathy in Devlin, Alicia is devastated, thinking his love was just theatrical, put on for the job. She takes on the assignment. And slowly enters the life, and then the household, of Alex. Alex soon falls completely in love with Alicia and proposes to her. She is in a complete quandary but gets cold-shouldered by Devlin. Deeply hurt and disappointed she marries Alex, though continuing to work for Devlin. And learns more about the Nazi organization, as she gets deeper into the intrigue and danger of the whole shebang.  

Notorious was the second film Hitchcock made with Ingrid Bergman, right after the stupendously successful collaboration on the 1945 Spellbound, where Ingrid was paired with Gregory Peck. And Notorious captures Ingrid's irresistible glow and charisma, with impeccable acuity.  Cary Grant and Ingrid were a pair made in heaven, with chemistry that burns the screen.

Their iconic kiss in the film is a masterclass in performance, shooting, and direction. It starts at 23.25 minutes into the film and ends at 26.00 minutes and includes the gorgeous Brazilian coastline, a discussion on staying in for dinner instead of going out, a dinner menu consisting of chicken, an arrangement of dinner plates, of phoning a hotel for messages, a decision on bringing a wine bottle, and a comment on it being a very strange love affair. It's shot with both the faces in intense close-up, as the pair talk, kiss and move around the flat, with Ingrid's face suffused with love, almost glowing from inside, and the guarded, careful, letting-go-but-keeping-in behaviour of Cary Grant. 

It's interesting how Hitchcock got the inspiration for the scene. He said he was inspired by the memory of a young couple he had spotted from a train whilst travelling in France. He’d seen a boy urinating as his girlfriend was holding onto his arm, not letting go. Hitchcock said that the girl would continuously look down as he went about his business, and then look up at the landscape, the scenery, and then down again to see how far he’d gotten, but she just wouldn't let go of his arm! Hitchcock explained that that’s where he’d got the idea that romance must never be interrupted.  

This scene is pivotal because soon after is the inflexion point when Devlin has to break the news to Alicia that she must seduce Alex. It is more poignant because of how he hides his broken heart even as he sees Ingrid implode in front of his eyes. Ingrid is desperate to know that Devlin had fought for her not to take the assignment, and when she gets no reply says to him "Tell me what you didn’t tell them - that you believe I’m nice and that I love you and I’ll never change back." Ingrid can induce heartbreak many times over, with very little effort.  

Alicia goes into their household of Alex and confronts their suspicions about his mother, and starts to take on risks to get information. But she is protected in her own way by the love of her husband Alex. For he is a gentleman, though dangerous, suspicious but anxious about losing Alicia, whom he loves dearly. 

Notorious is an uncomplicated film, though not simple, linear and smooth, and is one of Hitchcock's more emotional works. The script is masterful in its devices which makes the denouement so satisfying. It's written with flair, its dialogues brimming with humour and tenderness. And it brings in a villain in Claude Rains, who is lovelorn and foolish and is finally more heartbroken than defeated.  Cary Grant is the right mix of hurt, love and loss. But finally, the film belongs to Ingrid Bergman, who virtually fills every frame. 

A movie, indeed, for all times. 

Trivia:

• The legendary on-off and yet again on-off kiss between Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman was designed to obviate the Hayes Code on kissing in films, which restricted kisses to no more than three seconds each.
• Claude Rains stood on a box for many scenes with Ingrid Bergman. This gives the paradoxical effect that Claude Rains and Cary Grant were taller than Bergman, whilst the truth was that Cary Grant was at least seven inches taller than Rains.
• Mission Impossible II, directed by John Woo has several similarities to Notorious  in plot, story, and character development.
• Time magazine included Notorious in the All-TIME 100 films (a list of the greatest films made, starting from the magazine's beginning) as chosen by the legendary film critics Richard Schickel and Richard Corliss.

You can watch the movie here.